Port Tobacco times, and Charles County advertiser., 1887-03-18
Eslsrf Rfabing.
THE CONFESSION OF A ROBES
BI kATE ". HAMILTON.

/, begun in "A robbers cave. | don
suppose much that is good begins IL
robbers caves. AMI Aunt Jane saws a
boy oughtn'i 10 have his head full OF
such things Blu, her head IS full Of
thfa one now, aud. any way, II wasn't
a very bad cave; yery bal robbers, !
mean.
] e Brown snd Bill Sykes and lot
OF US bows started it-slx Of US. We
thought we'd De the Cory Brothers at
first, bat the pokeberri.s weren't ripe
enough 50 we could get any juice. and
xe had 10 give up the Cory. But the
csre was the beet par, Of 1t, aud We
bad first rate cave There'ss vacant
lot right next 10 Watkins store. here
an old hocse hal been burned down.
The cellar vail is all looseneti. and
thrown dowu in places. snd se ding
n. ht in here the wall rad been. We
. sld thro~ the DIRT out among the
;sh in that old cclIsr without any
~ Ho,icing II, and We dug good
-s--.A. - hsl . long Passage
aas With n room AZ the end Of II. The
passage.~ay was pretty IoS. 50 we had
to go on our band. a. j kuecs 10 get
through It. and shcn xe came 10 the
Foo.t there sas door. and we had io
give = Idesf knock The t;rand pon,S
iicklr -rlcr-lha; sas Joe ~ould
say.
w no, there.
And ~e had to answer:
"llop skotch. Ia doodle
II ~as real interesting when YOU
4e4rued bos. aud shou, the grips and
everything But the cave MAS pretty
dark aud sort Of close With all OF Us
there. aud so ~e made hole through
the tip Of II. for u secret exit IN case
of attack All the caves az read Of
had IN IN. |, let the light and air Ia
some. and when We didn't want u for
our r1r, ~s could use II for chin
nty l he cave wasn't big enough for
botn. and any wsy, We we're tired Of
digging. and our hands were all blIs
tered The chimney came up jns' a
little back Of Watklnss store, aud se
covered Il up with one IF the empty
hog.hcsds that were throw out there
We turned the hogshtad bottom up
ward, and fastened II so j, couldn't be
Knocked away. ani made hole IN the
top for the smoke to come out: big e
nough for the smoke 10 come il. too.
We knew mol ody would notice the
hogshrad, because there were always
so many empty barrels and hog.heads
back # Watkinss store They were
all iu|l Of whisky and rum aud such
stp1, when they were rolled IN; but
they got empty pr, tty fast. Bill Sykes
said the only difference oetw, Ell Wat
kins barrels aud his customers vas
that the barrels rolled "ut the back
door empty and the Customers rolled
out the front door full; they both
smelled too strong of viii Key for any
use. But there were some folks who
didn't see anything funny about it;
and they were the folks that owned
the customers.
.llHlillit I ll.iS IlNtS tlt'il wi HpNSt', d,
and his father went to WatkInss all
Tie time lie could earn good wages
at lis trade, but b. GIdn't; and lie
spent Hearty all he did get for drink.
MIS-. Collins washes aud sr~s, and
Aunt Jane, ahd other peorir. hel ped
Ger:and eS u then the IIttte tnlllnses
nevrr la things like other children.
Was so sorry for Jimmy that | did
think d ask him To join the Band
But wi "a | sort of hluted 10 him II
he'd like TO be IA Corr Brother, he
SAID
What's that? Something to eat:
lie looked as il he'd sell ont any
brotherhood Tor Il square meal, so
didn't know as it would be safe fol
him to join But we boys took up &
Collection for him ;only We didn't have
tut five cents and some marbles.
But there wouldn't have been any
trouble about that cave if it hadn'
been for Watkins. We had carried il
Il few sticks ore day, and made lit
tie blaz. so We could talk around oul
council fire. But it made such ,
smoke that We put it ou;, and begal
to counsel without any fire, when, al
of sudden, somebody said:
"Who's there?'
We all jumped, and | forgot tina
the question came from the wronl
side of the door, and | yelled:
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